I think everyone was obsessed with Kemba and Knight, just because we all felt we needed a pg. I'd look at Kawhi or Shumpert. Shumpert could play for us from 1-3, and would be fantastic in Casey's system.

if given another chance i would have taken kwahi. he is going to be a champion several times over in his career. i was afraid of kanter getting so much hype from just an exhibition game. i hadn't heard of jv at the time and was disappointed that both of my pgs were still up and not chosen.

i couldn't believe that tristan went fourth. and i'm with thead. chances are there are records on this forum somewhere if you were here to show you wanted jv.

i was scared shitless we were going to take vessely. he will end the worst pick in the lottery from last year.

if jv half meets expectations he will be the second best pick in the draft and if he meets them it would have been hard to choose kyrie over a legit awesome 7 footer.

I believe Kawhi came for a second workout here so BC must have had interest in him. The knock against him was his shot which looks fine with the Spurs. The Spurs really know how to pick them (15 by the Pacers) dont they?. I must admit I didnt know much about JV and would confuse him with Motiejunas who is also a Lithuanian 7 fter who doesnt play defense and is a jump shooter!

My 2011 big board looked like this:
1. Irving (PG of the future)
2. Williams (assuming he would play SF)
3. Valanciunas (after reading ESPN synopsis about him being a ferocious rebounder who wanted to dunk everything, then seeing his build and thinking he could be the team's defensive anchor C of the future alongside Bargnani)
4. Kanter (good C, scared by his year off and lack of experience, hence 2nd C behind JV)
5. Leonard (good defensive, rebounding SF, which I thought was the team's biggest positional need after a traditional C)
6. Knight (BPA after my top 5, IMO; 2nd favourite PG after Irving)

I was adamantly opposed to drafting Kemba, Biyombo or Vesely. I thought Kemba was too small and too much of a combo guard. I feared Biyombo being too raw (Thabeet 2.0). I looked at Vesely and saw a less talented Turkoglu 2.0, who would be too weak for PF and too unathletic for SF. I was definitely in the minority about both Kemba and Biyombo, but I seem to recall most RR readers being anti-Vesely.

I was one of the few who was very happy with the JV pick from the start. I was shocked that Cleveland didn't draft him at #4 - even with him staying in Europe for a season, Cleveland fans wouldn't mind because they'd still have Irving, then could add JV and another lottery pick the following season... oh well, worked out well for us Raptor fans!